The Chinese men’s table tennis team are the 2018 Men’s Team World Champions after a comprehensive victory over Germany in the Liebherr 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the championships ended on Sunday in Halmstad, Sweden.
This was the 21st time the Chinese men’s team were lifting the Swaythling Cup, and it matches the Chinese women’s team’s achievement on Saturday.
The defending champions faced long-time rivals and European champions Germany in the final battle for gold medal.
According to a report on the website of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), a bombshell was dropped by Germany one hour before the match started.
The number one seeds left world number three Dimitrij Ovtcharov out of the team as a result of his poor condition due to injury.
In the opening match, reigning world champion Ma Long was in domineering form, sweeping table tennis legend Timo Boll 3-0 (11-4 11-8, 11-3) to give the Chinese team a 1-0 lead.
Newly-crowned world number one Fan Zhendong, fresh from his first Asian Cup victory just last month at Yokohama in Japan, continued in his top form against Ruwen Filus.
He won 11-4 11-5 11-4 to help China establish a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Xu Xin finished the job for China against Patrick Franziska 3-1 (9-11 12-10 11-7 11-5) to put a stamp on the Chinese dominance and close out the championships.
After lifting the Swaythling Cup for a sixth time, Ma Long stated: “We all played very well today. This win is a credit to all our hard work, and our entire team, including all our coaches and staff.
“We are very happy inside our hearts to again be world champions, especially beating such a tough German team led by Timo Boll.
“I am now focusing on the qualification path to Tokyo 2020 where I want to defend my title.”
World number one Fan Zhendong was crowned the most valuable player, after going through the tournament undefeated and showing why he is the best player on earth.
With the crowning of the men’s team champions on Sunday, the eight-day Liebherr 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships came to a close at the Halmstad Arena in Sweden.
Earlier on Saturday, the Chinese team also claimed their 21st title in the women’s team event after a convincing 3-1 victory over Japan.
In the second division of the 2018 World Team Championships, Iran and Hungary men’s teams defeated Ukraine and Slovakia respectively to advance to the Championships Division.
The Spanish and Turkish women’s teams too knocked out France and Italy respectively.
The feat earned them the opportunity to be part of the top 24 teams to fight to be world champions at the 2020 edition of the World Team Table Tennis Championships.
It will hold in Busan, South Korea.
In the third division, it was Lithuania Men’s and Indonesian Women’s teams who prevailed to progress to the second division.
The world’s best players now turn their attention back to the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour.
The next event, the Hang Seng Hong Kong Open, will hold from May 24 to May 27. (NAN)
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